What do you think about Brothel themed games?

[Mastur Bar]

What's up, guys!
I'm kinda new here, so nice to meet everyone.

I'm thinking about creating my first game and I was thinking about creating something with a brothel theme, as it's not a very explored subject, in my opinion, so it might be interesting.
The central idea of the game's story would be that the MC would live in a brothel.
He would help with administration and would have to test-drive to see if girls starting out in the brothel are good at sex and teach girls who are less experienced to improve their "service" to customers.

What do you think about this?
Do you like the theme?
Would you play a game with that kind of story?
Hate this topic?
If you don't like it, why does it displease you?

I appreciate everyone who gives feedback.

 

[Sphere42]

I can't really form my own opinions from such broad simple concepts but a few pointers:

A small handful of people will complain, incessantly and in a nasty tone, about "NTR" if the male MC is not the mega pimplord with sole exclusive access to every female hole in the game. Be prepared to ignore/block them.

Since the pitch does not seem to explicitly require it and you don't specify graphics some people might appreciate the option of a female player character instead. Male PCs are preferred by the majority however.

Brothels actually have been explored quite a bit, but only in specific genres. Mostly "corruption" games where a female PC whores herself out, and "trainer" games where you are the manager/pimp/slave owner. Both usually involve documented improvements in sexual skills/performance.

Since brothels are a very impersonal setting you need something beyond the basic idea to carry the game. I haven't seen any but a Visual Novel based on your idea could pay off with good writing as readers get attached to the characters. As a sex game you could make highly interactice action-oriented scenes but then the brothel aspect mostly becomes a background framework/excuse. In between you'd probably need good art, animation, a genuinely fun core gameplay loop or appeal to a specific niche fetish to stand out.

So mostly just give more information on what you have in mind, and search the Games forum for entries with "brothel" in the title.

 

[Trinian]

I like the idea of it as a resource management game - I'm imagining a football manager game but with hookers. I'd play that. If you want to avoid the three letters of doom, probably just only show sex scenes with the MC.

Edit: Or lesbian sex scenes. Yeah, just put in lots of those ^^

 

[Mastur Bar]

I can't really form my own opinions from such broad simple concepts but a few pointers:

A small handful of people will complain, incessantly and in a nasty tone, about "NTR" if the male MC is not the mega pimplord with sole exclusive access to every female hole in the game. Be prepared to ignore/block them.

Since the pitch does not seem to explicitly require it and you don't specify graphics some people might appreciate the option of a female player character instead. Male PCs are preferred by the majority however.

Brothels actually have been explored quite a bit, but only in specific genres. Mostly "corruption" games where a female PC whores herself out, and "trainer" games where you are the manager/pimp/slave owner. Both usually involve documented improvements in sexual skills/performance.

Since brothels are a very impersonal setting you need something beyond the basic idea to carry the game. I haven't seen any but a Visual Novel based on your idea could pay off with good writing as readers get attached to the characters. As a sex game you could make highly interactice action-oriented scenes but then the brothel aspect mostly becomes a background framework/excuse. In between you'd probably need good art, animation, a genuinely fun core gameplay loop or appeal to a specific niche fetish to stand out.

So mostly just give more information on what you have in mind, and search the Games forum for entries with "brothel" in the title.

Yeah, I'm aware of the Anti-NTR crowd.

The MC needs to get a job, as he is being pressured by his mother.
He can't find any, due to the difficulty in the job market, but an opportunity arises for him to work in a shady bar and he accepts.
In the course of the story, he discovers that it is a brothel disguised as a bar, and so he will start interacting with the girls at the behest of the brothel/bar owner.

The focus would be on the MC trying on new girls who want to join the team and teaching them how to get laid, being the male counterpart in sex.
Sometimes another girl from the brothel might join you to teach the newcomer.
There are many ideas I can develop from that beginning.

The MC will be the central point of the game, so I won't show the scenes between the girls and the customers, even though it's implied that this will happen.
I believe that this kind of story isn't even considered NTR, as there won't be any emotional ties between the characters, it's kind of the MC's profession.

I also don't intend to include mind control, or corruption, or anything like that.

I like the idea of it as a resource management game - I'm imagining a football manager game but with hookers. I'd play that. If you want to avoid the three letters of doom, probably just only show sex scenes with the MC.

Edit: Or lesbian sex scenes. Yeah, just put in lots of those ^^

Good ideas, specially the lesbian scenes!
There will be context to include some of them, so I believe that will be part of the package.

As I said above, the MC will kind of be a helper to the brothel owner, so it will be something geared towards a management game indeed.
But that will only be in the story itself, as the gameplay I intends to keep it in good old Visual Novel style.

 

[Trinian]

Yeah, I'm aware of the Anti-NTR crowd.

.......

Good ideas, specially the lesbian scenes!
There will be context to include some of them, so I believe that will be part of the package.

As I said above, the MC will kind of be a helper to the brothel owner, so it will be something geared towards a management game indeed.
But that will only be in the story itself, as the gameplay I intends to keep it in good old Visual Novel style.

To be on the safe side, I'd make the owner female then, if the player isn't going to be the owner. But of course, I'd make everyone female, including the clients, so feel free not to listen to me ^^

 

[Mastur Bar]

To be on the safe side, I'd make the owner female then, if the player isn't going to be the owner. But of course, I'd make everyone female, including the clients, so feel free not to listen to me ^^

To be honest, the owner would be the landlady's friend.
(I just didn't want to spoil the story)

I can't just make only female clients, although it would be nice to include some female clients as well.
Because it's very unusual for a brothel with only female clients, you know?

 

[Trinian]

To be honest, the owner would be the MC's aunt.
(I just didn't want to spoil the story)

I can't just make only female clients, although it would be nice to include some female clients as well.
Because it's very unusual for a brothel with only female clients, you know?

Oh yeah, totally, I wasn't being serious, just self-referential - my game's set in a lesbian world where there's no men because that's what I likes. Definitely one or two female clients would spice things up, especially if you can later... entice them into working for you

 

[Mastur Bar]

Oh yeah, totally, I wasn't being serious, just self-referential - my game's set in a lesbian world where there's no men because that's what I likes. Definitely one or two female clients would spice things up, especially if you can later... entice them into working for you

The possibilities are endless!

 

[Sphere42]

I believe that this kind of story isn't even considered NTR, as there won't be any emotional ties between the characters

They don't care, hence my warning. Your premise requires mentioning that other people have sex *gasp* without the MPC! *pearl clutch*

the gameplay I intends to keep it in good old Visual Novel style.

VN basically means "no gameplay". So then the success hinges entirely on your ability to write a good story/sex scene, or else crank out good erotic HD renders at an unrealistic pace. A management sim at least offers a framework to drop smaller story bites into, but then you have to be careful with grind and also face the most competition.

Because it's very unusual for a brothel with only female clients, you know?

Rare certainly but if they serve that niche market definitely believeable. Like a gay bar or the ladyboy stereotype. But if you don't show sex with clients anyway then you have more freedom: men going to a brothel will probably know what they want to do with their dick, but not how to do it and nothing else

Erotic displays, massages, stamina and potentially taking abuse (or consoling them afterwards) or catering to fetishes not centred on the penis can all be trained with a female supervisor, possibly even more effectively without the intimidation factor of "serving a real man" (this depends a lot on the tone you're going for!) - if the "back bar" ends up being a kitty girl maid café most of the training should go towards meowing, crawling on all fours while looking sexy-cute, how best to put on strip shows in that costume and playing with milk, no dicks needed. If it's a latex BDSM club the same but with SSC training, how to use bondage devices and whips, building up pain tolerance etc. none of which require a dick. Just for some examples.

On the flip side if you do commit to a male PC you can have a lot of scenes explicitly focusing on how to pleasure the penis, testicles (and prostate). Not just wet pasta sounds and fake moaning but actual "lick this area in little circles" details in the otherwise vanilla scenes. Lots of opportunities for both maledom "listen to what I tell you" and femdom/female initiative "carry the act, I'll play a shy and lazy john" content.

 

[Mastur Bar]

They don't care, hence my warning. Your premise requires mentioning that other people have sex *gasp* without the MPC! *pearl clutch*

True, this makes me a little afraid to choose this type of story.
Sometimes I think the good old format is easier: MC lives in a house with his mother and 2 sisters and the game revolves around that.
I'm kind of torn between trying to be original or doing more of the same.

VN basically means "no gameplay". So then the success hinges entirely on your ability to write a good story/sex scene, or else crank out good erotic HD renders at an unrealistic pace. A management sim at least offers a framework to drop smaller story bites into, but then you have to be careful with grind and also face the most competition.

Indeed, I see a lot of people complaining about sandboxes and how grind it is in most games, that I prefer to do a VN with choices since it's simpler and most appeals to most.

Rare certainly but if they serve that niche market definitely believeable. Like a gay bar or the ladyboy stereotype. But if you don't show sex with clients anyway then you have more freedom: men going to a brothel will probably know what they want to do with their dick, but not how to do it and nothing else

Erotic displays, massages, stamina and potentially taking abuse (or consoling them afterwards) or catering to fetishes not centred on the penis can all be trained with a female supervisor, possibly even more effectively without the intimidation factor of "serving a real man" (this depends a lot on the tone you're going for!) - if the "back bar" ends up being a kitty girl maid café most of the training should go towards meowing, crawling on all fours while looking sexy-cute, how best to put on strip shows in that costume and playing with milk, no dicks needed. If it's a latex BDSM club the same but with SSC training, how to use bondage devices and whips, building up pain tolerance etc. none of which require a dick. Just for some examples.

On the flip side if you do commit to a male PC you can have a lot of scenes explicitly focusing on how to pleasure the penis, testicles (and prostate). Not just wet pasta sounds and fake moaning but actual "lick this area in little circles" details in the otherwise vanilla scenes. Lots of opportunities for both maledom "listen to what I tell you" and femdom/female initiative "carry the act, I'll play a shy and lazy john" content.

A gay bar or ladyboy wouldn't make much sense when it came to having a brothel full of women (hookers, not clients), you know?

The bar itself would be like a club where people can drink beer and have a talk while watching shows by women at the pole dance. The brothel part would be behind the curtains.

Hmm, I think there's room to explore the 2 paths: It could have the part aimed at teaching women to please men, but it would also be possible to teach women to please other women, since female clients are also a possibility on the plot.
In that case, there would be room for some lesbian scenes between the girls and some menage a trois.
The domination aspect turns out to be an extra touch, which can be explored throughout the game, but not the central theme, I think.

 

[Trinian]

VN basically means "no gameplay". So then the success hinges entirely on your ability to write a good story/sex scene, or else crank out good erotic HD renders at an unrealistic pace. A management sim at least offers a framework to drop smaller story bites into, but then you have to be careful with grind and also face the most competition.

Indeed, I see a lot of people complaining about sandboxes and how grind it is in most games, that I prefer to do a VN with choices since it's simpler and most appeals to most.

Ren'py is capable of handling variables, hence it's capable of making a game with a gameplay loop and VN mechanics. This is why my mind went to management sim. Porn games don't have to be complicated, they don't need action and they definitely don't need a grind to fill in for lack of a fun gameplay loop. They don't even need all that much of a story. They need characters that you get to know and in some way care about (even if it's only in a "I really want to bang this girl" way.)

In my game, the most popular NPC is the bully who simultaneously picks on the player character but also fancies her. She's mad popular because people love this dynamic. It's all about nurturing an idea in the player's head then catering to it - in this case, imagining how great it would be to domme/be dommed by this character.

 

[Sphere42]

A gay bar or ladyboy wouldn't make much sense when it came to having a brothel full of women (hookers, not clients), you know?

I meant those as real-life equivalents seeing as prostitution tends to be illegal or highly regulated and shunned in the Western world. A gay bar caters to at most 5% or so of the general population, a fictional lesbian brothel has similar reach. There wouldn't be many such establishments but some people IRL definitely do train staff at gay bars, just not at working those poles.

Porn games don't have to be complicated, they don't need action and they definitely don't need a grind to fill in for lack of a fun gameplay loop. They don't even need all that much of a story. They need characters that you get to know and in some way care about

Note I did say OR when listing options. The game does need something to stand out be it story or character writing, art, gameplay, fetishes or just finding some other niche and doing it "well enough". Family home incest is way overdone, why should players care about any one game in particular?

 

[Trinian]

Note I did say OR when listing options. The game does need something to stand out be it story or character writing, art, gameplay, fetishes or just finding some other niche and doing it "well enough". Family home incest is way overdone, why should players care about any one game in particular?

Indeed you did, my bad. And agree totally, a game needs a unique selling point. If you're going for incest harem, you'd have to be one of the better incest harems out there to make it.

 

[Mastur Bar]

I meant those as real-life equivalents seeing as prostitution tends to be illegal or highly regulated and shunned in the Western world. A gay bar caters to at most 5% or so of the general population, a fictional lesbian brothel has similar reach. There wouldn't be many such establishments but some people IRL definitely do train staff at gay bars, just not at working those poles.

This depends on the country, as prostitution is considered legal in some countries.
But I think I understand what you mean, I just don't think it would work so well with the story.

Note I did say OR when listing options. The game does need something to stand out be it story or character writing, art, gameplay, fetishes or just finding some other niche and doing it "well enough". Family home incest is way overdone, why should players care about any one game in particular?

Indeed you did, my bad. And agree totally, a game needs a unique selling point. If you're going for incest harem, you'd have to be one of the better incest harems out there to make it.

Indeed, sometimes it's not about what was done, but about HOW it was done.

Apparently, for me, the biggest selling point of a game is pretty girls and good renders, as it's what seems to bring the most results for developers.
It may be because a lot of people judge just by a few screenshots before playing the game, but that's the impression I get.

 

[Sphere42]

a lot of people judge just by a few screenshots before playing the game

I do that too to a degree but I also notice it failing quite regularly. In both directions, sometimes a screenshot shows what looks like lesbian consentacle fun times but actually is the sole single image in the entire CG and part of a mindbreak bad end, other times (admittedly much more rarely) I end up on page 12+ of the thread later for unrelated reasons and discover that the game actually has great gameplay and story and those godawful renders in the OP are just an ancient prologue no one has bothered to update.

As a developer you have the opportunity to update the OP regularly and accurately, try to do so both with the screenshots and with the tags/Genre based on what's currently in the available version. Worst case people can't find your game because it doesn't show up in content searches when it should.

 

[DawnCry]

Perhaps I may sound weird but what's the point to actually do a brothel themed game when you won't see the girls with customers at all? I mean, you could literally change to camshows and it wouldn't have any difference at all.

I don't know, but I feel that the more I read in this thread the more I feel it pointless the brothel aspect. But well that's about it.

 

[Sphere42]

what's the point to actually do a brothel themed game when you won't see the girls with customers at all?

I can't speak for the OP specifically but a brothel provides a convenient excuse to have all the girls physically present in the same location, having toys or other hardware available in said location, and lots of sex without romance which is great both for easy scene access and for building non-romance drama without cutting out the sex entirely. In particular when it's their literal job you have a setup where the PC might nudge/push the women towards sex but without actually violating consent or being a disgusting creep. Or, you know, go the exact opposite direction and make it a proper scum-of-the-earth crime syndicate operation with human trafficking and the like - the bigwigs usually want money so an "employee" PC can live out their darkest sadist fantasies without having to worry about a cop randomly walking into his oddly spacious house cellar.

 

[Kinderalpha]

Sounds more like a trainer game then a brothel game to me. Nothing wrong with trainers. Just calling it for what it is. Brothel implies characters sleeping with other people. Trainer would be more in line of corrupting and... well.. training girls to sleep with men.

 

[Mastur Bar]

I do that too to a degree but I also notice it failing quite regularly. In both directions, sometimes a screenshot shows what looks like lesbian consentacle fun times but actually is the sole single image in the entire CG and part of a mindbreak bad end, other times (admittedly much more rarely) I end up on page 12+ of the thread later for unrelated reasons and discover that the game actually has great gameplay and story and those godawful renders in the OP are just an ancient prologue no one has bothered to update.

Yes, I believe this is very common.
Let's suppose that in version 0.1, op published a game that had some errors in the screenshots, like something disproportionate or some clipping parts, if any comment quotes this image, it will be haunting the game forever, because most only see the screenshots and the first page.

Perhaps I may sound weird but what's the point to actually do a brothel themed game when you won't see the girls with customers at all? I mean, you could literally change to camshows and it wouldn't have any difference at all.

I don't know, but I feel that the more I read in this thread the more I feel it pointless the brothel aspect. But well that's about it.

It's simple, I'm not going to insert content into the game that would displease most of the possible audience because fewer people would want to play the game, even though I understand there's a niche for that.

Well, it's not the same as camshows because it will involve sex between the MC and the girls he's coaching.
Also, there will be scenes where the MC will also get involved with some female clients and those will be included in the game.

I can't speak for the OP specifically but a brothel provides a convenient excuse to have all the girls physically present in the same location, having toys or other hardware available in said location, and lots of sex without romance which is great both for easy scene access and for building non-romance drama without cutting out the sex entirely. In particular when it's their literal job you have a setup where the PC might nudge/push the women towards sex but without actually violating consent or being a disgusting creep. Or, you know, go the exact opposite direction and make it a proper scum-of-the-earth crime syndicate operation with human trafficking and the like - the bigwigs usually want money so an "employee" PC can live out their darkest sadist fantasies without having to worry about a cop randomly walking into his oddly spacious house cellar.

You're right!
Every game needs a setup that explains the sex scenes to come while keeping the story coherent.
Many fail in this regard, pushing too hard for the sex scenes to happen, which ends up spoiling the plot.

I'm trying to come up with something original to use as a story, but I need your opinions to know if the game would be well received, as breaking the mold has its risks.

Sounds more like a trainer game then a brothel game to me. Nothing wrong with trainers. Just calling it for what it is. Brothel implies characters sleeping with other people. Trainer would be more in line of corrupting and... well.. training girls to sleep with men.

As said above, there will be scenes between the MC and some female clients.
Corruption won't be part of the story because the girls will be going into it of their own free will, as that's just their job.
Okay, I know it's not the most socially acceptable thing, but that's not why, in this story, they would be doing it against their will.

 

[Sphere42]

Corruption won't be part of the story because the girls will be going into it of their own free will, as that's just their job.

If you want to you can still offer "corruption-style content" in this setting. No coercion or stupid mindbreak rape but the PC can guide the women towards more extreme, kinky or otherwise initially refused sex acts. Only instead of the usual "a good slave knows how to take a gangbang" you might have a girl with intimacy issues working the gloryhole, so you gradually (and with informed consent) teach her how to deepthroat and perform rimjobs, then PiV/anal at the gloryhole and maybe she gets used to it and eventually takes clients face to face. Getting the aunt to sleep with the PC would also require corruption of at least one of them (she can be the initiator!) unless they're both in the Alabama mindset to begin with.

I don't know what fractions of corruption fans seek which aspects, honestly most of the games with that tag aren't even remotely close to working on real humans and some are just outright rape. By definition "corruption" involves shifting someone's morality to a less socially accepted view without forcing them but in some of the discussion threads the reason people enjoy the games is phrased more as "a desire to destroy something beautiful" which rape does satisfy while consensual morality shifts mostly don't.